The document describes how to conduct an enterprise retrospective to improve performance across multiple Agile teams. The process involves identifying teams, facilitating online retrospectives using a technique called Speed Boat, categorizing impediments into themes, creating projects to address impediments, selecting projects for implementation, and sharing results with participants. The goal is to surface issues affecting multiple teams and the enterprise to identify opportunities for improvement beyond any single team.

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How to Conduct an
Enterprise Retrospective
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About Conteneo
Conteneo is a
Collaboration Amplification company.
© Copyright 2014 Conteneo, Inc. 2
Grounded in the science of
play, our enterprise software and
professional services merge
serious games, domain expertise
and collaboration leadership to
super power teams to achieve
Epic Wins.

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Retrospecting Retrospectives
+ Δ

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Retrospective Outcomes / Impact
What is the impact or outcome over time?
Augment your graph with specific changes you’ve
made.
time
impact
low
high
low
high

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Exploring Your Frame
What was the “scope” when you answered this
question? (e.g., a single team or ?)

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Design Challenge
Design an effective retrospective for 30 Scrum
teams in three locations.
Constraints: You do not have enough budget to fly
everyone to the same location.

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Agenda
• Motivations for Enterprise Retrospectives
• Process Overview
• Expected Results
• Expect Actions

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You have
many Agile
teams.
To improve performance of the enterprise you need
to conduct an enterprise retrospective – not just
one team – but every team.
Improving Enterprise Performance

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Traditional retrospectives
focus on a single, co-located
team.
They can produce results that
improve the performance of
the team, but often fail to
address the needs of the
enterprise – the issues
affecting multiple teams or
beyond the scope of control
of any single team.
Single Team Retrospectives
Image Credit: http://www.cornetdesign.com/images/AgileRetrospectives_134B2/IMG_0016.jpg

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We Need Online Retrospectives
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Speed Boat is a well-known
retrospective technique in
which teams collaboratively
identify the anchors slowing
them down.
Playing Speed Boat online
and at scale, we can
efficiently conduct an
Enterprise Retrospective.
The result? An Epic Win!

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Setting Scope
We have found success in setting scope as follows:
Time Scope: Last 6 months or last
release, whichever is greater
Process Scope: The complete development
process from story creation, through development
and into production deployment (release to
customer).
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Step 1: Identify the Teams
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We identify
the teams
and the
facilitators.

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Step 2: Conduct Retrospectives
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We schedule and
conduct online
retrospectives
using Speed Boat.
Anchor: Impediment
Propeller: Good Stuff
Placement indicates
how bad or how good.
The number of items
is shared among all
players.
Good
Really Good
Somewhat Bad
Bad
Really Bad

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Step 3: Analyzing Results
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We download the results of all
games to categorize each of
the ideas.
Categorize Each Idea
Create Project
Describe Features,
Benefits and
Price
Team & Enterprise Projects

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Categorize: People, Process, Technology
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People
Tools /
Technology
Process
“We should
use GitHub”
“My PO doesn't attend
planning meetings”
“We aren’t clear on the
meaning of Done, Done”

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Categorize: Scope of Control
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“We should use GitHub”
“My PO doesn't attend
planning meetings”
“We aren’t clear on the
meaning of Done, Done”
We use Diana Larsen’s Circles
and Soup framework to help
analyze results. This helps
This is also an excellent online
retrospective tool!
www.innovationgames.com/circles-and-soup

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Creating Projects
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We create projects to address the impediments.
Entire
project
list.
Team
projects.
Enterprise
projects.

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Selecting Projects
• Management reviews our results.
• Projects are selected and engaged.
• Some projects may be just “approved”.
• We may play additional Innovation Games® such as
Buy a Feature to help in the selection of the projects.
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Sharing Results
• Results are shared with the team members.
• This may be through
• Senior Leaders
• POD Leaders
• Scrum Masters
• We want the participants to know they’ve been
heard and that we’ll be acting on the results.
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Time Estimates
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Planning / Goal Setting
2-3 weeks
Game Play
1 week
Post-Processing
2-3 weeks
Projects? 1- 5 months

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Luke Hohmann
Founder & CEO, Conteneo, Inc.
480 San Antonio Road, Suite 202
Mountain View, CA 94040
mobile: (408) 529-0319
luke.hohmann@conteneo.co